Brunelleschi - Dovlatov Style

If i were to name my favorite book this past year, it would be Suitcase by Sergei Dovlatov. I found the pace of his sentences, his humor, his use of time, the blurring or reality introspection and fantasy so interesting that i rewrote my introductory writing about the Duomo by Brunelleschi in Dovlatov's style.

So this fucker says to me “You’re an ass and a babbler. Everyone knows you need centering even for the smallest arch.”

No point in arguing, but of course I argued.

“If you know so much, why haven’t you put a dome on your fucking roof? It’s only been what, 122 years? Every year you guys pray that god will put a roof on your church and every year you stand in your open church with rain falling on your heads”
“Fine. Tell us how to do it.”
“Whoever can make an egg stand on its head should win the commission.”
You should’ve seen the other 10 entrants for the dome competition trying to stand their eggs up like a bunch of douchebags, I took my egg, cracked it on the bottom, and stood it up.
“Ecco!”
“You’re cheating. We would’ve done the same,” they whined.
“Yeah. And you would have also constructed the dome without scaffolding if you knew my plans too!”

A couple months later, I was awarded the dome commission jointly with that smug fuck Ghiberti. Last time, this happened was in 1402 when we competed for the baptistery door commission. Ghiberti kept kissing the judges’ asses and adjusting his entry to appease the judges to influence the outcome. It was disgusting... I gave up bronze sculpting and went to Rome with Donatello for 16 years after that. I almost wept in self pity. Meanwhile Ghiberti’s been making bank, with a summer home and a teen wife. I was 41 years old and had worked 26 of them, started out as a goldsmith like Leonardo and Verrochio since the age of 15, made the world’s first alarm clock, figured out perspective drawing, and just spent the last 16 years with Donatello studying ancient Rome. I had spent too much time on the dome to walk away.

"Shit, here comes that jerk ass babbler again."
"When was the last time that bum bathed?"
"Now he's really gone mad... babbling that he's going to cover this church with 50 tons of bricks without using scaffolding... next thing you know, he's going to say the earth is round."
"Ever since he lost to Ghiberti, he's been a sore loser.... walking lost around the ruins of rome like a hobo."

This was the scene in 1418. Brunelleschi was 41 and pissed off. Becoming bald agitates most men in middle age. Hair retention is out of man's control, dome construction isn't. This was his midlife crisis moment. He had wanted to put the dome on the church since he was a kid running around the streets. Now was his chance...

The Ass Babbler and Pandemic (Duomo Part 5)

I’m a glass half full kind of guy. Usually subway trains are crammed full in the morning, but with corona, they’re only 40% full with seats available. Enough space to woodcut on the train...

Square #2 : leaf veins

Continuing our saga... In introducing  Brunelleschi in his book lives of artists, Vasari  curiously focuses on Brunelleschi’s appearance and hygiene.  Brunelleschi  was described as short, bald, and with thin lips. Coupled with his disheveled clothing, he would’ve fit in with cimabue (ox head), or Giotto (who was so ugly Boccaccio wrote about his appearance in the Decameron, or Michelangelo who would not remove his dog skin boots for months at a time. It’s as if the artists of that time were so focused on their work, they had no regard for their external appearances.

In his  return to Florence to take part in the wool guild’s duomo roof competition  in 1418, Brunelleschi was best known for his advancements in perspective drawing. Years of surveying Roman sites, methodically plotting the relative positions of 3D objects in 2D drawings  Brunelleschi deduced the theories of perspective that had been lost in the Middle Ages. Perspective drawing techniques were first utilized by 6th century BC painter Kimon. The Romans  used perspective in their wall paintings. The technique fell out of favor until the 14th century when Giotto started using vanishing points for his buildings to render  his settings more realistically. His most famous subject for perspective painting was the baptistery of San Giovanni as viewed from the central door of Santa Maria del fiore. He devised a contraption to aid perspective drawing. He drilled a hole in the back of the canvas at the vanishing point, (the point on horizon that all parallel lines converge)  and slid a mirror in front of the hole to compare his painting to the view in front of him. 

The competition had 11 entrants. At the presentation meeting, Brunelleschi was the sole designer to propose a construction solution that didn’t use any internal scaffolding. Scaffolding was nearly impossible due to its cost and lack of trees needed for its construction. The jurors thought he was insane. Even the smallest arches use centering during construction, how could the largest dome ever to be built not require formwork? When pressed for details, Brunelleschi refused to divulge his secrets. He was called an ‘ass babbler’ and forcibly removed from the hearing. 

For some reason, the juries’ sentiment changed. Vasari recounts a story that vasari challenged the judges to choose the designer who could make an egg stand on its head should win the commission. When the other contestants failed the test, Brunelleschi cracked the egg at the bottom and stood it upright. When the other contestants complained said they would’ve done the same, Brunelleschi retorted they would construct the dome without scaffolding too if they knew his plans. Perhaps it was the large scale model that Brunelleschi had produced that swayed the judges. Over the course of 90 days, 4 masons used 5000 bricks and 49 carts of lime mortar to construct a 6 foot wide and 12 tall model. Donatello helped carve out the wood details at the base.  Over the next year, the same members of the  wool guild that ran the duomo competition awarded 4 commissions to Brunelleschi, of which 3 needed cupolas. Barbadori chapel and ridolfi chapels’ domes served as a test run for brunelleschi’s scaffoldless dome construction at a smaller scale than the duomo. Satisfied by the results, the wool guild narrowed down the completion for the dome between Brunelleschi and his longtime arch rival, Ghiberti whose model, in comparison was made in 4 days with small bricks and centering formwork. 

At the end, the wool guild decided to award the duomo construction project to Ghiberti and Brunelleschi jointly. This time, Brunelleschi accepted the offer. He had worked too hard to walk away from the project.

Cimednap and EMORFOSENOTS (Duomo Part 4)

the brain is not satisfied with randomness. as a species we seek meaning. so when corona flares up unexpectedly in a cruise ship in the pacific, a secret congregation in korea, on the slopes of the italian alps, or lower floors of your office building... you try to to think things happen for a reason. we try to tell coherent stories like some dude ate a sick bat, had his cells hijacked by a single stranded RNA virus, went to a 40,000 family annual dinner in wuhan, coughed on some people who would eventually go to a cruise, a church gathering in korea, ski slopes and work office in nyc.

in the renaissance, those suffering from the black plague were inclined to wonder if they were being punished by god to divine whether there was a mysterious plan intended lesson for suffering? their stories were biblical. so when brunelleschi and ghiberti cast their bronze competition entries of abraham's sacrifice of isaac, they were meant to show surrender to god. have faith in god, be ready to sacrifice your only son, and he will spare you from the black plague. when brunelleschi lost out to ghiberti in the baptistry door competition, he went to rome seeking the stories from the stones of rome that could help him construct the dome for the duomo. 

In 1402, Rome was a shadow of its former glory. At its height, Rome was a bustling center of nearly 1 million people. Now, ruins like the theater of Pompey and the mausoleum of augustus were being plundered, and their stone was quarried for Westminster Abbey. The great Forum was now known as ‘Il vaccino  campo’, or field of cows.

Brunelleschi arrived in Rome with young sculptor Donatello. Donatello was as fiery tempered as Brunelleschi and  they made a good match. At 15 years old, Donatello had struck a German in the head with a stick and found trouble with the law. if he wasn’t paid in full for a sculpture, he would destroy it on the spot. Many years later,  he would go to Ferrara to try to murder one of his runaway apprentices. 

Brunelleschi and Donatello lived like bums and didn’t care how they dressed or where they slept. They were  completely  focused on decoding the ruins. Brunelleschi and Donatello would hire laborers to cart rubble away from ancient sites. The locals figured they were digging for treasure. In actuality they were unlocking the secrets of Roman construction. For example, Brunelleschi would detail how the Corinthian, ionic and Doric orders differed mathematically. For Corinthian entablature height was 1/4 of its column height which in turn was 10 times its diameter. Brunelleschi became intrigued with the the possibilities of large span dome construction and its applicability to the duomo problem in Florence. After the great fire of Rome in 64 AD, Nero had implemented new fire codes mandating the use of inflammable building materials. As a result, the use of concrete (whose technology was lost in the Middle Ages) was used extensively to span large spaces. Nero’s own house, Domus Aurea, (64 AD) had a 35’ dome span over octagonal room with lavish piping that sprayed perfume down on Nero’s  Guests. The Pantheon (118-128 AD) was the largest dome structure in the world standing 143’ high and 142’ wide. 

Brunelleschi would write his findings down on parchment in cryptic symbols and Arabic code. Without patent protection or intellectual property laws, scientists have had a long history of ciphers. When Robert Hooke discovered the laws of elasticity, he wrote CEIIINOSSTUU which unscrambled forms ‘ut tensio sic vis’ which translates to ‘as the elongation, so the force’. When galileo discovered saturn’s rings in the 1600s he sent the following transmission to Kepler : SMAISMRMILMEPOETALEUMIBUNENUGTTAUIRAS which was supposed to be unscrambled to ‘observum altissimum planetam tergeminim (I have observed the most distant of planets to have a triple form) Kepler humorously unscrambled the message wrong to read ‘salve umbistineum geminatum martia paroles (hail twin companionship, children of mars). That mars has 2 moons would be proved correct centuries later though. (Emorfosenots anagram = stones of Rome)

Looking deep into the pantheon, Brunelleschi discovered the fundamental parameters for dome construction. First, masonry is very strong in compression. The spires of the churches of Koln and Salisbury, and the pyramids of giza  were able to span up to 500’ vertically without issue. In fact stone can be stacked 2 miles high before crushing failure. If however stone was arrayed in a dome arrangement, the weight of the stone at the top would impose hoop stresses, or forces at the base  that would tend to push the base outward. Imagine a ball pressed on top... the pressure would force the equator to bulge out. Stone has relatively little tensile stress, so to contain these hoop stresses, the romans made the base of the dome 23’ thick. To lighten the load, the Romans tapered the dome as it ascended towards the oculus. Towards the top, the dome is only 2 feet thick and composed of lightweight pumice and amphorae (empty bottles used for olive oil). The coffering on the interior also helped to diminish the load at the base. Despite the Roman engineering, lightning shaped cracks from the top to the base must’ve been noticed by  Brunelleschi. For his duomo solution, Brunelleschi was careful to counteract hoop stresses he witnessed. Without concrete technology available to him, his solution would  have to rely on the specific geometric placement of material and introduction of rings to rein in hoop stresses. 

At the same time that Donatello and Brunelleschi were conducting their excavations in Rome, other Roman scholars were unearthing lost treasures like cicero’s Orator, and the  poems of Lucretius, tabullus, and catullus. There was a movement in the early 1400s by artists, architects, philosophers and writers to learn from the past to in order to advance their understanding of the world. ‘Man became the measure of all things’, and in the Renaissance, Rome would become the primary  portal to ancient knowledge. Architects like Leon battista Alberti, Francesco di Giorgio, and Michelangelo would follow Brunelleschi’s trailblazing footsteps and find inspiration in the ruins. In the modern age, Louis Kahn and corbusier would sift through the same stones and find ancient inspiration for their modern architecture.

square #1 - corona plant rubbing: purple crayon

corona subway scene

Doors and Pandemic (Duomo Part 3)

viruses not only spawn febreezing asians in subways, hoarding toilet paper and hand sanitizer, but they also have the ability to drive serious artistic endeavors...some of which become viral themselves and spawn ideas. trying to make sense of one's own mortality and meaning in life leads to expression and creation. it's no coincidence the black plague sparked the renaissance and some of the most memorable art and architecture. today's post centers on the famous virus-inspired baptistry doors in florence.

the Rivalry 

Brunelleschi had no ambitions to follow his father’s footsteps as a notary in Florence, instead, at the age of 15, he began an apprenticeship as a goldsmith. Goldsmiths at that time covered a variety of arts such as decorating books with gold leaf, setting precious stones, casting metals, engraving silver and working with enamel. Donatello, da Vinci, and vercocchio are other notable artists who started their artistic training in goldsmith workshops. Brunelleschi quickly mastered goldsmithing and started to study motion through the design of gears and wheels. He is reported to have made the first alarm bell and a spring powered clock (innovations that were hundreds of years before their time).

In 1402, at the age of 25, Brunelleschi entered the famous competition for the bronze doors of the Baptistry of San Giovanni which was sited across from the duomo. The competition which would play a critical role in Brunelleschi’s life came about as the result of the Black Plague. Throughout the 1300s the Black Plague struck Florence. In 1400, 12,000 florentines died (20% of the population). Every time the plague struck, the Florentines would try to drive it away by either ringing church bells, or marching the portrait of the virgin through the streets, or burning sulfur wormwood, juniper to clear the air. To appease the deity this time, the Guild of the Cloth merchants sponsored a competition for the bronze doors housing the font where all the citizens were baptized. 34 judges were chosen including artists, sculptors, and banker Giovanni Medici.

Each entrant was given four slabs of bronze weighing 75 pounds and ordered to execute the same scene, abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac to symbolize florence’s survival from the plague. The competitors were given 1 year to complete the task and the final design was to be 17 inches high by 13 inches wide. The process for casting bronze is conceptually the same today as 600 years ago. Today a bronze sculpture is made with wax, and then coated with a cementitious slurry material. The wax is burned out, leaving a hollow form to pour the bronze in. The process is called the ‘lost wax’ process. One year may seem like a long time to administer a bronze casting competition but 600 years ago, the slurry material was comprised of ox horn, iron filings and cow dung. The casting process was so complex and fraught with difficulty back then that when Michelangelo used to cast bronze, he would request a Mass to be said.

Out of the 7 entrants, Lorenzo Ghiberti arose to be Brunelleschi’s main challenger... and a life-long hated rival. Ghiberti was very different in his work process than Brunelleschi. He would seek out advice from the jurors, and adjust and change his sculpture entry accordingly. Brunelleschi worked in isolation. Always suspicious of others stealing his ideas, if he did make notes, he would use a cipher to hide their meaning. Da Vinci would later do the same by employing backwards handwriting in his notebooks. Ghiberti’s entry was made with 2 pours while brunelleschi’s entry was comprised of over 30 pieces soldered together. People today can decide which entrant they would’ve preferred as the original competition entries from Brunelleschi and Ghiberti can now be seen in Museo nazionale del bargello. The judges had a hard time declaring a clear winner between Brunelleschi and Ghiberti so they offered them a joint commission. Brunelleschi refused to pair up with Ghiberti and cede any design control. In frustration, Brunelleschi renounced his work in sculpture and never worked in bronze ever again and left Florence for Rome for the next 16 years of his life. Ghiberti would spend the next 22 years of his life working on the bronze doors that would weigh 10 tons. In the lives of the artist by Vasari, Ghiberti’s doors were named the Gates of Paradise by Michelangelo because of their beauty. Michelangelo was impressed by their illusion of space. Although they were cast relatively flat, they employed mathematical perspective principles to create a 3 dimensional sense of space. The doors were also technically materially advanced. Ghiberti used a special bronze alloy that was especially receptive to gilding. He mixed gold dust and mercury and painted it onto the bronze alloy to create a smooth flowing finish suggesting air and atmosphere. This highly toxic process involved burning the mercury away to leave only the gold in place.

Competition entries - Brunelleschi (left) vs Ghiberti (right)

Ghiberti's Baptistry Doors

i mistakenly had an eight foot long board of poplar cut into 1 foot x 1 foot square pieces. i lamented my mistake (the japanese woodcut artists i admire never used squares). design within squares is hard to make dynamic, but i figured, if ghiberti could work with the square, 'what the heck' i could try too. my latest woodcut efforts will be a series of square format prints that i will tape to my front door in response to covid-19. 

square #1 - corona plant: small yet viral 

Construction and Pandemic - Duomo (Part 1)

2 hours ago, my boss got an email and said 'oh my god, oh my god'. "what happened?" we asked. she's on the board of the building and received notice someone on 55 thomas street has corona virus. everyone in our office simultaneously got up to survey the streets below to see where the virus was coming from... as if the virus was big enough to see. in trying to find the building, we realize our building straddles worth and thomas streets and has an entry-- 55 thomas. corona is in our building. great. if i die from corona, i die working on a library.

2 days ago, i had to renew my monthly subway card. i thought about biking till this virus runs its course, but then opted for laziness and got the card. now i'm not so sure that was the right decision. if i die from corona, i die from laziness.

2 weeks ago i asked my sister. if i die will you take care of my kids? "yeah sure" she responded. she has 2 girls and a boy.. if i die from corona, she would have a family of 5, 3 boys and 2 girls.

2 months ago, i returned from an eye-opening vacation. if i die from corona, i die with great memories of seeing some of the greatest art and architecture in the world.

2 years ago, someone mentioned it's good to have a will to prepare a trust for the kids, just in case i meet an early end. i said, when you die, who cares? if i die from corona, my estate will be parceled out by the government.

602 years ago, on August 19, 1418, a public design competition was announced for the dome of the Florence duomo. The prize was 200 florins or 2 year’s worth of salary for skilled craftsmen. Entrants had 6 weeks to produce models, draw ideas, or make suggestion in how the dome may be built. The proposals had to address 2 main issues: how to create a temporary wooden scaffolding to construct the dome, and how to raise heavy multi-ton marble and sandstone blocks to its top.

Florence, with a population of 50,000 (same as London at that time) had risen to prosperity through the strength of its wool industry started by the umilati monks who arrived at the banks of the Arno river in 1239. Raw English wool was brought to Florence to be dyed, and woven into most expensive cloth in Europe. The infusion of wealth prompted many large scale building projects like the 20 foot high city fortifications that took 50 years, the palazzo vecchio town hall with its 300 foot high hell tower, and the 280 foot tall campanile designed by Giotto that took 20 years to complete. The scale of construction within Florence hadn’t been seen in Italy since Ancient Rome.

The biggest building project Florence however was the new cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore. The building construction was started in 1296 by arnoldo di Cambio (architect of the city’s fortifications and palazzo vecchio) and survived the Black Death 1347 which wiped out 80% of the city’s population, and rival military advances from Milan. Entire forests were procured and and huge slabs of marble were floated down the Arno for its construction.

The final approved design of the dome was proposed by Neri di fioravanti in 1367. For 50 years, Neri’s 15 foot tall and 30 foot long model showing the intent of the cathedral stood in the unfinished structure. The main problem was the construction of the dome, which if built, would be the highest and widest dome ever built... wider than the Hagia Sophia in constantinople, or the pantheon in Rome, and over 150 feet higher than the cathedral at beauvais. The support of the dome eschewed the clumsy flying buttresses used by florence’s enemies, France, Germany and Milan. Instead, Neri proposed a double shelled dome structure like the ones used in Persian mosques where the outer shell was taller and impressive in height while sheltering the inner shell which was scaled to the interior. The shape of the dome was also unique in that it wasn’t spherical in section (like the pantheon and Sydney opera house) but was pointed. The facets of the roof were intended to spring from its octagonal base and meet at a point like gothic arches. Every year, the building architects and construction managers working on the church had to place their hands on a bible and swear they would build the church as Neri modeled. Predating the field of structural analysis, the managers of the church construction had no idea how the dome would be completed. They had faith and prayed to god to provide a solution.

More than a dozen models were submitted for the dome completion in the fall of 1418 from designers and craftsmen as far away as Pisa and Siena. The model that showed the most promise did not come from a carpenter or mason... but from a 41 year old goldsmith and clockmaker... Filipino Brunelleschi.